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Arts and Music |
The Prater's Creek Gazette 17th Issue Spring 2008 Page #5 |
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This Is A Public Service Announcement, With Guitars! Recently, PBS ran a documentary, during one of their fundraising drives, on the band The Clash and I was reminded for the millionth time how much that band meant, and still means to me. In the late 1980's, the legacy of the Clash was tarnished. Fans and critics alike looked at them differently. The group that was known from 1977-1981 as "the only band that matters" now seemed kind of silly with their "come on if we all join together we can change/save the world" attitude.
Clash fans were disillusioned and the band called it a day. People who wanted honest rock and roll now found it in the American underground where such great bands as REM, The Replacements, The Minutemen, The Meat Puppets and Black Flag traversed the country in their Econoline vans. The days of the Clash and their Kosmo Vinyl/Bernie Rhodes (managers from the Malcolm McLaren school of management) hyped publicity stunts seemed silly, "Fashionista" one writer called it, when compared to the above mentioned bands in their dirty jeans, T-shirts and flannel shirts and $4 ticket prices. Then their was the revelations of their drug problems, not only Headon's heroin addiction but cocaine. Cocaine?! Were they just the same as the 1970's drug addled, overindulgent rock stars that they were supposed to replace? But, by the mid 1990's, The Clash legacy began to shake off it's tarnish and shine again. Joe Strummer was making great music again with his new band The Mescelaros, reminding us that the heart on his sleeve still beat for rock and roll. And Jones allowed his song, the band's big hit "Should I Stay or Should I Go?", to be used in a jeans commercial in the UK which turned a whole new generation on to the band. The Clash were back on people's minds with boxed sets, live albums, and DVDs being released. Then in 2003 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was bittersweet for fans because Joe Strummer's heart, which was bigger than anybody's, gave out in December of the previous year. When the issue of Rolling Stone magazine arrived in my mailbox in early 1980, I was ready to be converted. I had been on a steady dose of Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, especially early Dylan, and was wanting more such music with MEANING. Some music that tried to change the world.
There they were on the cover, Joe and
Mick, with slicked back hair and rockabilly clothes, looking like the coolest dudes on earth.
London Calling, their third album, had just come and the article
talked about their "16 Tons" and how much the band cared about their fans by
going toe to toe with their label, CBS,
Finally, three days later it was payday and I bought the album. It was surprising how diverse the music was-punk, rockabilly ,reggae and soul. The lyrics were so powerful from the apocalyptic warnings of the title song, the anti-commercialism of "Lost in the Supermarket", the bravado and passion of "Death or Glory" and "Clampdown", the drug addict's lament of "Hateful", and the defiance of "The Guns of Brixton". There wasn't a bad note on the record. My best friend, Mark, came over and I played him the album. He was now as big a Clash fan as me. I was working at a textile mill at the time, and graffiti -ed the album's working class lyrics all over the mill. They were still there the day the mill closed.
What are we gonna do now? LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET
I'm all lost in the supermarket When they kick out your front door how you gonna come With your hands on your head or on the trigger of your gun? Within a couple of weeks, I had also bought the first two albums, 1977's self-titled debut, and 1978's Give 'Em Enough Rope. You could count on one hand the number of Clash fans in the upstate of South Carolina at this time. I worked in Harcombe dining hall on the campus of Clemson University then and one day I saw a student wearing a Clash shirt! I asked him where he got it, and he asked if I was a fan, but the sound of his voice and look in his face said that he didn't believe I knew who they were. Then one day I saw these twin brothers who were students walking down the sidewalk near campus carrying Give 'Em Enough Rope. Mark and I yelled out to them, amazed that there were two more fans besides the guy in the dining hall. The debut album had not been initially released here in the US because CBS Records thought it was too harsh for our tender ears. It quickly became the largest selling import in history. CBS finally released it and added additional singles to the American version. A lot of purists say these added singles ruin the flow of the album. I think they're crazy. It's important to explain that punk rock was a very singles driven music, this still being the era of vinyl and the 45 RPM single. Their first album was, and is still, regarded as one of the most important albums in rock history. Mid 1970's England was going through one of the worst recessions in it's history with people on "the dole" which is government assistance, welfare. All of the songs were written by Strummer/Jones. Lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer with his hard, hit you between the eyes, punk Woody Guthrie songs and lead guitarist/vocalist Mick Jones' keen pop sensibilities gave the band a one-two punch that brought to mind Jagger/Richards at their best. There was also a heavy early Who influence in their music with songs such as:
Yankee soldier Complete Control
They said we'd be
artistically free lemme see your other hand! Career Opportunities
They offered me the office, offered me the shop Hate And War
They
offered me the office, offered me the shop Two of the biggest songs on the album are cover songs: a searing version of Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought The Law" and Junior Marvin's reggae song "Police and Thieves". The "dub reggae" technique of all of the instruments dropping out except the bass and drums was a major influence on rock afterwards heard in songs by Nirvana and Green Day. It was during this time that the band made a reputation for itself as the most impassioned, intense live band you could ever see. Young Brits, just as the punks in New York's CBGB's scene, were sick of bands such as Yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer standing on stage playing boring arty rock. The Clash sweated blood on stage. Their look was also striking with bassist Paul Simonon's sartorial creations for the band, shirts with slogans such as "Hate and War" "White Riot", and "Stun Guns in Knight's Bridge" painted on them and a Jackson Pollock kind of splattered paint on their clothes. (cont.) |
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A lot of this had to do with the
cynicism that permeated the world, especially the rock and roll world in the
mid to late '80s. And their diminished stature was due to the way the band
ended, sacking Topper Headon, the drummer, due to his drug problems and then
the unthinkable and unforgivable act of sacking it's co-leader, lead
guitarist/vocalist Mick Jones. Lead singer/rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer and
bassist Paul Simonon replaced
him with two unknown guitarists, did a busking tour playing acoustics on
street corners, then releasing the album Cut The Crap that was well, crap.
to sell the double album at a single
album price. I was broke and couldn't afford to buy the album until payday,
but everyday I'd go to the record store and look at the cover of London
Calling. The cover is one of the most iconic images in rock and roll
history with the black and white photo of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his
bass. 
The voices in your head are calling
Ooh ooh ooh complete control -